“Virginia is one of the first states in the eastern United States to create a Wildlife Corridor Action Plan that has a clear emphasis on protecting vital wildlife habitat corridors and reducing vehicular conflicts. With approximately 60,000 crashes each year, Virginia is one of the top ten states for such wildlife-vehicles collisions, costing over $500 million annually in property damage, injuries, and loss of life.
“Virginia’s Wildlife Corridor Action Plan is a cooperative effort between the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Virginia Department of Transportation, and Virginia Department of Forestry.”
Publicly owned housing is such a roaring success that Delegate Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, D-Alexandria, wants to create more of it.
That affordable house you live in. It's not yours. It is the governments and you can't sell it without giving the government first right of refusal…. pic.twitter.com/Ecia3a49yi
— Loudoun County Republican Committee (@LoudounGOP) January 21, 2026
Tweet by Garrett Exner, former Board of Visitors member at the Virginia Military Institute:
Garrett Exner
@GlennYoungkin appointed me to the Board of Visitors at Virginia Military Institute. Unfortunately,
@vademocrats voted to deny my appointment in what the Governor describes below as a, “shameful episode.”
I was never given a hearing. I was never asked a question. I was never provided a reason for my denial. As far as I know, my appointment was never fully reviewed.
The Privileges and Elections Committee rejected my appointment for partisan politics. When pressed, Majority Leader, @ssurovell, cited “genuine concerns about the qualifications, backgrounds, and intentions,” of Youngkin appointees at VMI and other universities.
Mr. Surovell is not a veteran. He has never deployed. He has never prepared young men and women for service to the nation.
All week American meteorologists have been vibrating with joy. Sleeves rolled up, laser pointers trembling as they assure us that THE BIG ONE is coming.
To the South!
Wow. We haven’t seen a signal this strong for a MAJOR winter storm in a very long time and it’s gotten stronger on the latest update. This could be the kind of storm you REMEMBER forever. pic.twitter.com/bUdBgGsS65
Every forecast included the words “once in a lifetime” or “historic.”
Southerners were ordered to buy milk, bread and a sled dog.
“I’m talking feet not inches of snow,” one giddy weather guy gushed.
On Tuesday they warned of at least 12 inches of snow in Tidewater – possibly more – declaring there was no doubt that the region would be buried this weekend because “all of the models have come together.” Continue reading.
A free heat pump for thousands of Virginians who are now using oil or propane to heat their homes, paid for by Virginia’s general population of electricity ratepayers. That is the goal of legislation that passed its first hurdle in a House of Delegate subcommittee Tuesday on a bipartisan vote.
House Bill 2 is the same as legislation vetoed last year by former Governor Glenn Youngkin (R). The language linked is a substitute adopted Tuesday, and it will be in front of the full Labor and Commerce Committee on Thursday afternoon. (Contact information for members is on that committee link.) Next week, as the legislators are gathered on a snowy Capitol Hill, it will reach the full House of Delegates.
The bill applies to both Dominion Energy Virginia and Appalachian Power Company. Under it they will have the job of finding all the low-income households in their territories that are not using electricity for heat. Anybody still using wood or coal is certainly also covered by this, but it doesn’t seem to apply to natural gas heating customers – yet.
The proponents want 30 percent of those eligible Dominion customers, and 2,000 of Appalachian Power Company’s eligible households switched out to heat pumps within five years.
Nobody asked the platoon of utility lobbyists in the room or the delegation of State Corporation Commission staff just how many low-income households under that definition are in Dominion or Appalachian’s service zones. No legislator queried what is the average cost of ripping out somebody’s oil or propane equipment and tanks and replacing them with the high efficiency heat pumps.
But the line of advocates for the bill was long. Watch the video of the bill discussion, easy to find because this was the first bill. When a line of advocates for poverty programs, for the elimination of hydrocarbon energy, for renovation contractors and for the electric utilities themselves are all singing from the same hymnal, know that there is a huge bag of your money on the table.
Washington Post headline: “Virginia Democrats target military college’s funding after anti-DEI push. Democrats launch effort that could ultimately end Virginia Military Institute’s status as a state-funded university.”
Money quote:
“We need to determine whether this is an institution capable of change,” said resolution sponsor Del. Dan Helmer (D-Fairfax), who previously forced VMI to protect students who’ve reported sexual assaults on campus. Helmer, a U.S. Military Academy at West Point graduate, said Virginia taxpayer money should not be given to an institution “incapable of separating itself from a Lost Cause ideology that promotes White supremacy.”
Question: Has VMI, in fact, shown itself, since the retirement of former Superintendent Cedric T. Wins, to be promoting Lost Cause ideology and White supremacy? What is the factual basis behind Helmer’s assertion?
🚨Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger announced to lawmakers today that the commonwealth is rejoining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. She said it will lower costs. Glenn Youngkin told us it would increase electric bills. https://t.co/vcXfUzUy3o
Legislators have introduced twobills targeting so-called “rent gouging,” defining rent increases of over 3% as rent gouging. That’s a weird, unreasonable definition of rent gouging, because even pro-tenant rent-control boards sometimes allow rent increases bigger than 3%, and expenses often rise faster than 3%. Inflation was about 7% in 2021 and 2022, far above 3%. But HB278 and SB355 would authorize local “rent-gouging” ordinances, under which a landlord “cannot increase the rent by more than the locality’s calculated allowance, not to exceed three percent.”
Surveillance of some… Senate Bill 84: “Authorizes state and local law-enforcement agencies to place and operate pedestrian crossing violation and stop sign violation monitoring systems in school crossing zones, highway work zones, and high-risk speed corridors for purposes of recording pedestrian cross and stop sign violations.”
But not of others… Senate Bill 83: “Requires the chief judge of each general district court, juvenile and domestic relations court, and circuit court to set a policy regarding the use and possession of portable electronic devices, defined in the bill as a personal laptop, a tablet, a mobile telephone, an electronic calendar, and electronic book reader, a smart watch or any other electronic personal communication device.”
🚨BOMBSHELL: There is no written report from the firm hired by the BOV to investigate the UVA Health scandal.
The Cavalier Daily has finally covered the 239 FOIA documents created during the UVA Health investigation and obtained by TJC. In the article, the Cav Daily speaks with… pic.twitter.com/8LJmx8cfeX
Restoration News has uncovered school districts across Virginia offering telehealth mental health therapy for children without parental permission. State law permits telehealth in schools, but requires parental consent and the adoption of school board policies on the topic. Federal law also prohibits the disclosure of private student information, but these laws are ignored in multiple districts.
Hazel Health is a third-party provider for mental health services for at least 13 school districts in Virginia. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to these districts reveal most are ignoring state telehealth laws. School boards are required to develop policies that include specific provisions of the law. They must also enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the provider in accordance with a model memo adopted by the state Education Department.
While school boards are not required to offer telehealth counseling, those that do must meet legal obligations. State law requires school board policies to include a provision for parental consent and to designate a private location in the school for students to receive counseling services.
The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prohibits schools from disclosing personally identifiable information in student records. Yet multiple Virginia school districts are defying this law.
Within minutes of taking office, the Governor issued a number of Executive Orders which rolled back Republican initiatives and implemented an aggressively Democratic agenda. To the victor go the spoils.
True leadership, of course, is rising about partisanship to do what’s right for the people. Very few leaders in America have that type of moxie.
The “flex version” comes into play if “any state,” regardless of size, context or partisan leanings, decides to draw a new Congressional map. (Presumably, California qualifies as “any state” — so the threshold is already met). The bottom line is that HJR 4 is intended to render Virginia’s “non-partisan redistricting” law a dead letter, before it reaches its fifth birthday.
Lower Power Bills: Suspend costly energy mandates when prices spike or grid reliability is threatened, protecting families from being forced to choose between food and heat.
Car Tax Relief: Make good on the long-promised repeal of the car tax up to $20,000, putting real money back into household budgets.
Tax Protection: Permanently extend the enhanced standard deduction, preventing an automatic tax hike and saving a married couple an average of $661 per year.
Grocery Tax Repeal: End Virginia’s tax on groceries — one of only ten states that still imposes it — saving a family of four about $150 annually while holding local governments harmless.
Lower Car Insurance Costs: Allow, but do not require, insurers to offer preferred repair networks, creating a path to more affordable premiums for drivers.
Data centers cut property taxes on homeowners, by providing lots of additional property to tax. The more property there is to tax, the less tax needs to be imposed on each property. Data centers use very few government services (unlike homeowners, who use things like schools and parks), so data centers don’t add much to a county’s costs.
Democratic-run Loudoun County has lots of data centers and lower property taxes than other Democratic counties in northern Virginia, such as neighboring Fairfax County and Arlington County. Data centers generate almost half its property tax revenue, enabling it to tax homeowners at lower rates despite Loudoun County’s rapidly rising government spending under Democratic control.
Senator Stella Pekarsky, D-Fairfax County, is sponsoring a bill this legislative session that would require the Virginia Board of Education to develop and “implement alternative graduation pathways” that allow students to earn a Standard Diploma without passing the statewide Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments.
Currently to graduate from high school in Virginia, students must pass end of course (EOC) SOL exams in specific courses in English, Math, Science and Social Studies. Under Sen. Pekarsky’s bill, the Board would have to consult a range of stakeholders — from educators and administrators to parents and students — to design options that could include “non-assessment demonstrations of competencies” like locally developed performance assessments, portfolios, capstone projects, work-based learning, dual-enrollment courses, or industry credentials.
Senator Stella Pekarsky
As directed by Governor Abigail Spanberger’s inauguration day education executive order, Secretary of Education Jeffrey O. Smith and State Superintendent Jenna Conway will conduct listening sessions throughout Virginia during the first 100 days of her administration with “students, parents, educators, school leaders, superintendents, school board members, and community members about the challenges and successes facing their schools.”
Will changing this EOC graduation requirement even be a major concern to this broad section of stakeholders?
The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….
This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.
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